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Welcome to IsoArcH!

IsoArcH is an open access and collaborative isotope database for bioarcheological samples from all time periods and all around the world. It consists of georeferenced isotopic, archaeological, and anthropological information related to the study of 1) dietary and mobility patterns of human and animal populations, 2) animal and crop management practices, and 3) past climates and environments.

IsoArcH aims at facilitating information exchange, collaboration, and discussion between science-based archaeologists (anthropologists, zooarchaeologists, archaeobotanists, etc.), generalist archaeologists, and historians. It is designed in a cooperative perspective, where users are able to explore and download all the available data from the database, and may contribute to expand the content of the website by uploading new data.

In addition, IsoArcH allows one to undertake multi-scale analysis, and to realize extensive studies and syntheses on the issues of paleodiet, food production, resource management, migrations, paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental changes. It offers the opportunity to create large isotopic baselines for animals and plants in order to better understand the diet and the mobility of humans or animals. Furthermore, isotopic data may be displayed on historical maps, which makes it possible to re-contextualize ancient biogeochemical data within global geopolitical frameworks. Finally, IsoArcH allows the users to customize their own digital maps, and to export them for personal purposes.

IsoArcH is a completely free tool, created for you and with you. All content is distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

The project team thanks the very large number of people and sponsors who have generously encouraged the IsoArcH initiative.